Prodigy
by Neplusultra
Summary: Ranma, noncrossover, altverse. Chapters posted here when tweaked to my satisfaction.


The two men faced off against each other across the dojo,  
their faces grim. They squared themselves, and paused a  
moment, seeking any weaknesses in the other. The instant  
stretched in the air, hung taut. Suddenly the two burst into  
a flurry of motion, seemingly to flying at each other across  
the floor to fall upon each other.  
  
Their attacks seemed to flow towards each other, only to  
be suddenly parted on the hastily thrown up rocks of each  
others blocks. It truly was a sight to behold, until  
suddenly, breathing heavily the two of them smiled and sat  
on the floor with their backs to each other.  
  
"Well Tendo, you've gotten better it seems," said one,  
chuckling a rather breathlessly.  
  
"And you've gotten worse Saotome," said Soun, in between  
gulping breaths of air.  
  
Several minutes passed in silence as the two friends  
recovered from their match. "Seems like going on the  
training trip with Nodoka-chan was a mistake Saotome.  
You've gotten slower, and you've put on a few pounds as  
well."  
  
Genma made a half-hearted attempt to punch his friend,  
which was easily dodged, and laughed. "I may have put on a  
few pounds Tendo, but I'm not any slower. And it wasn't a  
training trip, it's called an extended honeymoon."  
  
"So Saotome, was I right when I said getting married was  
worth cutting short the training with the master." Already  
knowing the answer Soun smiled in his memory of imprisoning  
the master. His smile broke into full-fledged laughter when  
he saw the silly grin on his friends face, as he was  
obviously caught in reminiscence of a rather different kind.  
  
"Why don't you teach her?"  
  
The sudden question broke Genma out of his daydream. "I  
tried Tendo, I truly did. Her parents paid for the  
honeymoon. A wonderful place halfway up a mountain. It had  
a perfect training spot there, a clearing up near the top.  
There was a brook running through it, lots of stones  
sticking up out of the water. Wonderful place for balance  
training I tell you. But No-chan... Well...she must be the  
clumsiest woman in the world. Every time I took her back  
there she just kept tripping and falling onto me. I can't  
remember how many times I had to make a fire so we could  
keep warm while our clothes dried." Genma sighed and  
blushed slightly, at one of his apparently more interesting  
memories.  
  
Soun shook his head at Genma. Sometimes he wondered  
about his friend. Sometimes he was just so...so...stupid  
when it came to women. "So, it was a good training spot  
then."  
  
"Yes. There was even a small shrine over by the spring  
that fed the brook to some kami or another. Uzume I think,  
or perhaps Inari...though it could have been both. But in  
either case No-chan insisted on taking an offering every  
time we went there. To think of all the wasted food," he  
finished, groaning theatrically.  
  
"Perhaps it's just as well that you waited to marry her  
until after we got rid of the master. Kei made me teach her  
as much as I could after we had Kasumi. She was out for his  
blood you know. I think it was when he groped one of the  
nurses while she was in labor that did it."  
  
Soun mentally snorted, of course Nodoka hadn't wanted  
anything to do with the master. After Kei had told her  
about what had happened on their honeymoon she'd lost all  
her respect for the letch.  
  
The sound of one child crying suddenly came from the  
house, shortly followed by another, and Soun to frowned  
slightly. "Well Saotome, Kei will be needing my help with  
this one. I'll visit you in a couple of weeks, and we can  
go out drinking or something.  
  
Genma smiled, Soun was so whipped, and he didn't even  
know it. Waving goodbye he showed himself out and began to  
wander around looking for a bar to spend some quality time  
in. However before he found the bar, he came upon a clock.  
"Ten o'clock already," he moaned. "No-chan's gonna kill  
me."  
  
Two figures watched Genma run home with poorly veiled  
smiles. This was going to be so much fun.  
  
Prodigy  
A Fanfiction by Neplusultra  
All characters from Ranma1/2 belong  
to Rumiko Takahashi I wish I could  
have made all that. Anyone not  
from Ranma is more than likely made  
by me.  
  
Chapter 00  
"I'm never gonna have a hu... a hai... a boy to teach  
martial arts to." Soun sobbed drunkenly on Genmas shoulder.  
"Kei had 'nuther girl. Eh... Ek... Ek... A... Akane."  
  
Genma looked down on his friend slightly blurrily and  
nodded. "Well, Ruh..Ranmas a great boy. His grip's  
pur...perfect and he's already crawling."  
  
Genma's admittedly feeble attempt at cheering his friend  
only made the man sob harder.  
  
The woman sitting next to Genma at the bar paid her tab  
and stood a bit wobbly. "Well," she said addressing the  
two, "the answer's simple. Have them marry. Join the  
schools." That said she smiled and wove her way out the  
door.  
  
"Hear that Tendo," Genma crowed. "Ranma'll marry one've  
your dau... girls, and we'll join the schools. Inn't that a  
great idea!"  
  
Soun looked up at his friend and stopped sobbing. "Yea  
'tome. Wunderful. Bartender, bring us some paper, and  
s'more drinks."  
  
The two men were too inebriated to wonder how the strange  
woman had known about the schools. Of course, they probably  
wouldn't have thought about it if they had been stone cold  
sober either, so let's not dwell on that shall we.  
  
()()()  
  
"No! Absolutely not, I won't let you do this Genma.  
He's my son too. I won't let you take him away from me,  
he's too young."  
  
"But No-chan...," the man whined plaintively, "you saw  
him earlier. He already knows the basics, and he just  
turned three. If I could train him, imagine what a fighter  
he could be if I could train him as hard as possible."  
Genma's eyes were bright, staring off into the distance of  
some imagined future only he could see.  
  
Nodoka sighed, the argument had been going on for hours  
now, and they given up differing arguments long ago and had  
fallen back on sounding like broken records capable only of  
repeating their last statement. Something had to be done,  
and by the look in his eyes Genma was incapable of making a  
move. "But Genama, why can't you train him here, with me?  
Surely a growing boy needs his mother."  
  
"No-chan. Why can't you understand. If I were to train  
him here with you, would you comfort him when he cried? Hug  
him when he was hurt? Calm him when he wakes from  
nightmares?"  
  
"O..of course I would."  
  
"That's why I can't train him here with you. Women are  
weak, and if I let him stay here with you, your weakness  
would infect him and he would never be what he could.  
He..."  
  
Nodoka tuned her husband out, knowing how long he could  
go on about the weakness of women. It was the one bad thing  
about him, the chauvinism. But he was the most wonderful,  
manly, man she'd ever found. Why, her heart still went all  
aflutter when she remembered their first meeting. He led  
the way when he and his friend came through the windows of  
the bathhouse. How, out of all the women in there, he'd  
looked at no one else the entire way to the floor. Ah, it  
made her knees weak just to think about it.  
  
"No-chan. No-chan!" Genma gently shook his wife's  
shoulder.  
  
"Ah, yes. Sorry about that Genma dear. I missed that  
last bit, what was it again?"  
  
"I asked if you'd let us go if we both signed this  
contract." So saying he handed her a piece of much erased  
paper.  
  
Nodokas eyes grew wide as she read the proposed contract.  
It was stupid...it was idiotic, no sane human being would  
carry out on the propositions it contained. It also showed  
just how serious her husband was. "Ok, I'll let you go my  
husband, " she said, fearing he would just take her son and  
go if she said otherwise. "Just promise to bring him back  
to me"  
  
Genma just stared at his wife, he'd thought he would have  
to end up kidnapping his own son in the end. Shaking  
himself out of it he smiled. "Come on No-chan, let's go to  
bed."  
  
Nodoka found herself giggling, she had married such a  
manly man.  
  
()()()  
  
Genma stared down at his sleeping son. At the age of  
seven he'd already mastered the basics of the school, and  
had gone on to learn the most advanced forms he knew. It  
was incredible. True, the boy wasn't able to beat him yet,  
but he was more trouble than any seven year old child had  
any right being.  
  
Coming to a sudden decision Genma squared his shoulders.  
Tomorrow he would take his son out of school and they would  
travel to some of the more famous martial arts dojos around  
Japan. School was only a distraction anyway, if the boy was  
this good having gone to school, he could have been that  
much better if he could devote all his energies to training.  
  
()()()  
  
Genma puffed lightly as he raced through the forest. He  
heard Ranma not far behind him and frowned slightly, the boy  
should have been further off than that. He had been looking  
forward to a short rest at the edge of the woods.  
Apparently it's time for some heavier weights. As he ran,  
he thought about what they would do next. The Saito dojo  
was the last spot he'd planed on visiting, and they were  
there years earlier than he'd planed.  
  
He broke through the woods, and looked out at the village  
nestled at the southern foot of the mountain. Very  
picturesque, very quaint.  
  
Ranma broke through the trees behind him and stopped.  
Barely out of breath he recovered in just a few seconds.  
"Come on boy, I know exactly where we're going. The Saito  
Dojo is right over there," he said, pointing at a largish  
compound on the outskirts of the village.  
  
"I'm ready pops."  
  
Genma spared his smiling son a backwards glance. Ranma  
was entirely too cocky for his own good, he needed a good  
beating from someone his own age to take him down a peg or  
two. It's far to easy to wave off a beating from someone  
older than you as stemming from their experience. Maybe  
they should go to China next. Surely someone there would be  
better than his son. Or at least at first. It was a short,  
quiet walk from there to the Saito dojo. Genma could hear  
the sounds of training coming from inside, and knocked on  
the gate.  
  
It didn't take long before the gate was opened by a  
smiling woman. As soon as she saw Genma however, the smile  
dropped off her face as if it had never been there. "You're  
not welcome here dog," she said, her voice ice cold as she  
glared at him.  
  
He reached out and grabbed the gate before she could  
close it in his face. "I may not be welcome here, but you  
don't turn down challenges, and that's what we're here to  
do."  
  
"What's this," said an older man coming from inside, "the  
honourless dog has come back to nip at his masters heels?  
Or have you finally slunk back with your tail between your  
legs?"  
  
Genma had to bite his tongue, his fingernails digging  
painfully into his palms. "I have come back for no other  
reason than this Yoichi, tell him boy."  
  
Ranma stepped from behind his father, "In the name of the  
Saotome School of Anything Goes, I challenge your school."  
  
"So dog, what bitch did you get this pup off of? She so  
ashamed of what she did that she gave him to you?"  
  
"Yoichi," Genma near shouted. "Say what you will of me,  
but leave my wife out of it. Do you accept our challenge or  
not?"  
  
Yoichi sighed, "Very well, at least I'll get some  
entertainment out of seeing what petty tricks you've taught  
this pup of yours. Come to the dojo."  
  
The dojo wasn't anything special really, but it was  
decently large, and the class that the Saotome's interrupted  
was one of the higher level ones. Yoichi stepped forward,  
"Class, we have a challenger today. The pup of Genma  
Saotome," there was a hissing intake of breath from the  
class at his name, "Jiro, do you think you can handle it?"  
  
One of the students, apparently Jiro, bowed, "I'd be  
honored master."  
  
"Very well. Class, to the sides. Jiro, pup, center."  
  
Ranma didn't move.  
  
"What's the matter pup? Afraid are you?"  
  
"I ain't afraid. But my name's not pup. It's Ranma."  
  
"Oho, our pup has a spine. Very well. Jiro, Ranma," he  
sneered the name, "Center."  
  
The two in question moved to the center of the dojo.  
Ranma was still small, at ten hadn't hit his full growth  
yet, nor did show much evidence of muscle. Jiro on the  
other hand stood almost as tall as Genma, tall indeed for  
Japan, and would have done well in professional wrestling  
with the muscles he had. Neither side had any doubt about  
their winning the bout.  
  
"In honor of the Saotome's style, anything goes in this  
fight, ok Jiro," Yoichi said, winking at his student.  
"Ready. Fight!"  
  
Ranma was right, there really wasn't any doubt about the  
winner.  
  
()()()  
  
"Pops? Why didn't we stick around like usual?"  
  
"Boy, you know we have a schedule to keep. We only have  
until you're sixteen before I have to take you home."  
  
"But Pops, we've already gone to the training grounds in  
Japan."  
  
"Don't be so small minded boy. Japan isn't the whole  
world, there are still hundreds of training grounds in  
China, not to mention the rest of the world."  
  
"Oh, ok," Ranma dropped it, not really wanting another  
lecture. After a few minutes of silence he thought of  
something that had bothered him back in the town, "Um, Pops.  
How did they know you back there?"  
  
Genma didn't say anything for a while, but when he did  
his voice was the even calm of a man speaking through  
tightly controlled anger, "I grew up there boy, and I don't  
want you to ever talk about it again."  
  
Ranma, for once, wisely kept his peace.  
  
()()()  
  
The fifteen year old Gosunkugi Hikaru was something of a  
shrimp. He was mabey five and a half feet tall, and might  
have weighed one-hundred pounds though that was being rather  
optimistic really. Of course that was why he was currently  
surrounded by three bullies while on his way to school, it  
didn't really help that he was the new kid either.  
  
Unfortunately for the young Hikaru he was as unable to  
put up anything resembling a fight as he looked. This was a  
fact that he was painfully aware of, which, of course was  
why he was meekly handing over the weeks lunch money to his  
new classmates pleasing them to no end. Sadly for the   
delinquent teens, this was about the time when a certain  
Tendo Akane came upon the scene like an angel of justice  
come down from heaven. As she tore into the bullies and  
came to the deliverance of Hikaru, one of the slightly more  
intelligent bullies realized that there really wasn't much  
difference between an angel of justice and a really cute,  
long haired girl ... with really pointy knuckles.  
  
Akane looked down at the boy she'd just saved, smiled and  
held out her hand to help him up. "You're the new kid  
aren't you? Um, Hikaru right?"  
  
"Um, yea. We just moved here last week." His blush was  
noticeable as two ugly blotches on his too pale cheeks.  
  
"Well, my dad teaches martial arts down the street here,  
you can't miss it. There's the sign out front. I'm sure he  
could teach you something to help protect you from those  
bullies, he's a great teacher and I might not be here for  
you every day you know." So saying she smiled and walked  
off towards school trailing a goofily grinning Hikaru in her  
wake.  
()()()  
  
Ranma stretched. The faint predawn light filtering  
through the window of his room he slowly got up out of his  
bed and made his way downstairs to the kitchen. One of his  
duties as a student under Master Absalom Smith was to make  
the middle aged man breakfast.  
  
He had expected this morning to be no different from any  
other morning had been since he'd begun his studies here  
when he was eleven. He would make an omelet of mushrooms,  
onion and some garlic for his Master, and one that only had  
mushrooms and tomatoes for himself. The Master would  
usually Show up by the time Ranma was done with his food,  
looking very unhappy at the world. Absalom Smith was not  
exactly a morning person. He would stumble down the stairs,  
his unusual, wolf-like yellow eyes squinted, and his shock  
of silver-white hair standing up in some of the most  
unusual formations.  
  
Once Ranma was done with his breakfast, in an agreement  
worked out between his father and Master Absalom years ago,  
he was to go train with his father until mid-morning. They  
had come to the agreement shortly after the fourteenth time  
his father had failed trying to reclaim him, after allowing  
Ranma to be trained as Master Absaloms student in exchange  
for dinner one night. And after training solely in Anything  
Goes for several hours he was turned over to Master Absalom  
for instruction. The afternoon was reserved for sparing  
with the only other student there, Hibiki Ryouga.  
  
This morning, however, proved to be different. Ranma  
walked into the kitchen to see his middle aged gaijin of a  
teacher immaculately groomed, and already seated at the  
table with two mushroom, onion and garlic omelets prepared.  
  
"Master, what ... ," Ranma haltingly began after a  
stunned moment.  
  
"Please Ranma. Just Absalom. You're done with studying  
under me," he began in a somber tone, "You have learned all  
there is to my Eight Heavenly Fists style."  
  
"Master ... ," Ranma managed before he was hit between  
the eyes by an airborne spoon. "I mean Absalom. Wasn't it  
The Fists of the Eight Elemental Dragons yesterday?"  
  
The man nodded sagely, "You're right Ranma it was. But  
doesn't the new name sound so much cooler," he grinned as  
Ranma shook his head. "The name doesn't matter Ranma. Eat,  
I have something to tell you.  
  
"As of this morning, I have been teaching you for the  
past five years, and a better student I've never had. You  
know all the forms and all the meditations flawlessly. But,  
there is an aspect of my school that you just can't teach.  
At some point you just have to go out into the world and  
actually learn instead of just being taught to know  
something.  
  
"So, as soon as you are done with breakfast, I want you  
out of my house. And don't bother trying to come back, you  
won't be able to find your way. When you've learned what   
you need, I'll find you. I packed your bag with everything  
you'll need. It's waiting for you outside." He finished,  
and calmly began to eat his omelet.  
  
Ranma was speechless, befuddled, flabbergasted and even  
a little bit hurt. He'd actually managed to loose his appetite,  
though that might have had something to do with the general  
makeup of his omelet.  
  
He sat at the table watching his Master, no Absalom, eat  
his breakfast for several minutes before he stood up from  
the table and headed towards the door.  
  
"Oh, Ranma, wait one second." Wiping his mouth with the  
back of one hand Absalom stood up and walked over to Ranma.  
"There are still plenty of training sites here in China you  
and your father could visit. I've taken the liberty of  
collecting some guides and maps to some of them for your  
father. Here." He pressed a small bundle wrapped in a  
handkerchief into Ranma's hand, turned around and went back  
to the table to finish his breakfast.  
  
If Ranma had stayed for just a few more minutes to see  
the grin that practically split the face of his one time  
teacher, he would probably just thrown the package away.  
()()()  
  
Several short weeks later, at Mt. Quanjing, in the  
Bayankala range of the Qinghai province, Ranma and his  
father followed a dumpy chinese guide in a Maoist outfit  
down into a valley. They passed through a thick layer of  
fog, and looked out over a valley floor covered with  
hundreds of springs, each with one or more shafts of bamboo  
protruding from their placid waters.  
  
"Here sir. Is legendary 'Training Ground of Accursed  
Springs' Jusenkyo," the dumpy guide said in accented  
japanese, pointing out over the valley floor.  
  
Genma shrugged his pack onto the ground and leapt to the  
top of one of the shafts of bamboo. "Well Ranma. Are you  
ready? I want to see just how sloppy the last five years of  
soft living have made you."  
  
"I thought I showed you just how soft I was yesterday  
morning pops," he snorted derisively. Carefully placing his  
pack on the ground, he had barely jumped on top of one of  
the poles when his father leapt at him.  
  
The guide, meanwhile, just sighed at his customers. Why  
did all these martial artists insist upon traveling to any  
training ground that had the word 'accursed' or 'forbidden'  
in the name. Didn't they ever think that the places had  
earned their titles?  
  
The guide was snapped out of his reverie by a loud  
splash. "Oh sir. You knock father in 'Spring of Drowned  
Panda' shonmaoniichuan! There is tragic legend, very  
tragic, of panda who drown there two thousand years ago.  
Now whoever fall in that spring ... take body of panda," he  
dutifully rattled off from memory, managing to sound only  
slightly bored.  
  
For his part, seeing a large panda leap from the pool he  
had just knocked his father into, rattled Ranma. Rattled  
him enough to miss seeing the panda leap at him and knock  
him back towards one of the many other springs. His mind  
went numb as the waters enfolded him. There was a curious  
tightening sensation, then nothing.  
  
As he dragged himself onto land, he vaguely heard the  
guide rattling off something about a spring of drowned  
nyasomethingoranother. His curious detachment fled as soon  
as he looked down at herself. Fists clenched tightly by her  
side, Ranma looked up at the sky and shouted to the heavens,  
"If I ever find your cottage again Absalom I'm going to kill  
you!"  
()()()  
  
Seated comfortably in front of a fire, in his nice comfy  
chair, a one Absalom Smith paused in his reading, cocked his  
head as if listening to something very faint, and smiled. 


End file.
